The Rhine Valley

Unfortunately the weather finally took a turn on us by the time we reached the much anticipated Rhine Valley (between Koblenz and Mainz) so it all did seem to be a lot greyer than it would normally be.

A very grey view across the Rhine to Lorch (taken from our campsite!)

The quaintness of the Mosel had gone and the Rhine was definitely looking more like a working river - or rather canal as not much of its banks seemed to still be following its natural course. The villages were amazing and immaculately preserved (for all the tourists no doubt) but the dual railways on each side carrying freight and thousands of VWs non stop day and night on both sides of the river did detract from it somewhat. The river traffic seemed to have more urgency about it too.

But we did manage to find a very pretty little village, Bacharach, and spent a morning dodging rainshowers and strolling about admiring the half timbered buildings and neatly manicured vines.

Mmmm..lekker!

Admiring yet another 'romantic' half timbered house

The very pretty town of Bacharach

The nobel Riesling itself

Winegut? I guess that's what you get if you drink too much!

From the Rhine we were aiming to cross into France and spend some time in one of the most anticipated regions of our voyage - Burgundy. To get there we needed to head further south through Germany, which provided us with the perfect chance to pop back into the Black Forest!

As we drove though the rolling forested hills we passed by the famous German ski fields - all sprouting with buttercups and spring flowers. Could there really be enough snow to allow skiing we chuckled? I guess not this season. It looked as if nothing had been open for ages.

Driving into the nearby town of Todtnau, famous for being the home of German skiing - where it was first introduced in the country no less, we stumbled across a downhill mountainbiking track. So off came the bikes and up we all went on the chairlift for a nosey around the Black Forest terrain and one terrifying downhill ride (well at least it was for the one of us capable of doing it!!).

Taking the chairlift, Todtnau

Cheese

Biking in the Black Forest

The Mosel Valley

After managing to get away from the roar of the race track, we meandered down to the Mosel river valley.

Quite a different scene awaited us here with medieval towns and towering castles around almost each bend. A truly wonderful and very tranquill place, with vines covering almost every imaginable space along the river banks, those not covered by vines, being full of the lush green verdancy of spring.

The beautiful Mosel River

Beilstein on the Mosel

Cochem on the Mosel

We found a great central spot on the river to stay, and when we say 'on the river', here's what we mean!

Bike maintenance at our campsite

River traffic

The view across the water from Wickse

Enjoying the view from the river

Our main plan was to spend a full day visiting the surrounding villages and sampling their local delicacies (Mosel Riesling) on our bikes.The Mosel you see being the spiritual homeland of this delicate, appley wine. And although the wine didn't disappoint, the bikes certainly did, with us suffering from 4 punctured tires throughout the afternoon...bummer!

A Mosel vineyard

The entire riverbank covered in ancient vines

The first of many (before it became inappropriate to take any more photos of punctures!)

The star of the show

Hmmm...now which one do I like best?

The beautiful village of Beilstein

Crossing the Mosel River, Beilstein

Vines in your backyard, Bernkastel

Burg Eltz

Giving up the two wheels for four, we spent the next day following the Mosel right down into Luxembourg, where it became very industrial, before heading back up the other bank to Koblenz, derived of course from the latin word for 'confluence' (thanks Rob!), meaning the meeting of two things, in this case, the Mosel and the Rhine rivers!

Although the weather was beginning to pack in (after 4 weeks of total sunshine we can't complain!), it's true to say that the Mosel is definitely one of our favourite destinations so far, and we definitely recommend it!!!

The confluence of the Mosel (left) and the Rhine (top and right), Koblenz

Nürburgring

After travelling about the Netherlands catching up with friends and family for the last few weeks it was strange being back on the road again, but the sunshine was fading from the north and it was great to be back in Wickse. We headed south from Nijmegen across into Germany aiming in the direction of the Rhine and Mosel rivers so we could follow them south. On our way we quite unexpectedly spotted the Nurburg ring race track marked on the map! Oops I'd thought it was the NurEMberg Ring, about another 300 km's further west! I thought I'd seen enough Top Gear's to get that right.

It's famous for it's 13 mile 73 bend race circuit that is open to the public, making it one of the most demanding race tracks. "Greatest & most challenging race circuit in the world" in the words of Jackie Stewart, all time racing great.

We didn't quite make it on to the course with Wickse, although the French speed camera's will attest to Wickse abilities ;) On our way to the track you could sense that the racing culture wasn't far away, luckily we were there on the weekend and fast cars could be see going to and forth from the track. Fortunately for us the Renault World Series was being staged this weekend on the F1 race circuit next door to the larger ring. Brilliant set up and the entry was free too, courtesy of Renault.

Fine tuning the fine machinery

More expensive machinery unwrapped

Formula 3.5 in action

Check out that cornering

The F3.5 cars were great (and we were thankful of the ear plugs) and we stayed to watch the Megane World Series too. Not much resemblance to the original Renault Megane, but it made for great viewing, although number 31 managed to fend off plenty off attacks to lead the race all the way from the beginning.

Tightly packed for most of the race!

Wheels lifting all over the place!

Faster and faster they go round...

Racing below the Nür Castle (Nürburg)

Number 31 lapping one of the stragglers to take the win

Koninginnedag in Amsterdam

Queen's birthdays not your thing? Normally this would be a day of dignitaries parading about in a paddock but not in the Netherlands! Somehow the Dutch royalty have remained a quite 'normal' family, OK very posh but still seen about on the streets. On the 30th of April they celebrate the Queen's birthday, actually it's the Dutch Queen Mother's birth date, and it's really a day of celebrating Dutchness more than anything else. It's also the free market day, where at some point in history they declared the date tax free on private sales. So what it really ends up being is...

a.) a holiday
b.) a huge party about the city the night before (due to a.)
c.) a huge outdoor garage sale as it's tax free (or was?)
d.) a massive street party
e.) and possibly the worlds largest display of the colour orange ever seen??

We spent the day roaming about the Jordaan (you don't get very far on two wheels on this particular day in Amsterdam),with KiwiMark, Julie, John & Hester and the usual suspects. Great fun was had by all and it was to be the warmest Queensday on record, a relief as last year it barely got above 10 degrees!

Here's some photo's we collected with our new telephoto lens...

Innovative Dutch style disco lighting

Crowd gearing up for Konningenacht (pre match party night)

The Usual Suspects, Konningenacht

Size 38 anyone? Imelda Marcos seated on the right

Looking for a parking spot

Show me yer orange

Celebrating from a safe distance

The throng in the Jordaan

A very questionable T shirt (lucky you can't it read eh?)

Hup Holland!

Mayhem on the canals

Orange party boat

Old style Amsterdam sounds

Oranje boven!

Orange at birth

Julie, Mark & Hester

Julie & Sharon

The Usual Suspects!

The future King of the Netherlands